Yardsmart: The California poppy

Wednesday

Sep 21, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 21, 2011 at 8:16 PM

While we always think of this poppy in the spring, it is a child of autumn. Unlike many annual wildflowers, Eschscholzia californica is technically a perennial. The tiny seeds produce a plant with a deep taproot that survives through the hot, dry, dormant season to flourish with the fall and winter rains.

Maureen Gilmer

Ask historians why California was first named "Tierra Del Fuego," and you'll get an argument every time.

Translated from Spanish, it means "land of fire." One camp believes it was because of wildfires that burned every year from June through December.

Others attribute it to the California poppy, with its fiery orange blossoms cloaking coastal hills in color during April and May. While these wildflowers aren't abundant enough today to seemingly warrant such a name, conditions a few hundred years ago were very different.

Native-plant experts attribute the changes to the introduction of exotic grasses and other herbaceous plants that have naturalized on the Pacific Coast. These out-competed the native grasses, displacing them entirely in most areas.

The native grasses were compatible with the poppies, but these exotics arrived with their own special chemistry to discourage competition. They pushed the wildflower into limited areas.

While we always think of this poppy in the spring, it is a child of autumn. Unlike many annual wildflowers, Eschscholzia californica is technically a perennial. The tiny seeds produce a plant with a deep taproot that survives through the hot, dry, dormant season to flourish with the fall and winter rains.

However, this plant can also be an annual where conditions aren't good enough to support a taproot. They will grow and bloom from seed, then die out entirely.

Poppies in general love disturbed ground. California poppies are most often found in porous sandy, gravelly soils, or on better ground, provided it is on a hillside to ensure rapid drainage.

The hills north of Los Angeles illustrate this every spring when the huge perennial colonies come back densely from roots to shelter new seedlings. But more often, the poppies are found along roadsides, often in conjunction with our annual lupine, both of which thrive where conditions are too Spartan for competing. Similarly, poppies can be found in the thin soils of cliffs and rocky outcroppings too hostile for ordinary plants.

How and when you sow California poppy seed can dictate whether they become perennial or are just a flash-in-the-pan wildflower color. In the wild, seed is shed and lies dormant over the hot summer, waiting to germinate with the rains of late fall in California.

This begins early development of the taproot, which digs deeper and deeper over the cold, wet season. Then when days grow longer, they are well established to produce a large foliage mass and numerous flowers. The root also helps them to survive the rigors of the long, hot dry season to come.

Sowing in spring is not productive because there is no time for taproot development. Sure, they may sprout and bloom modestly, but when the heat comes they wither and die. But if you sow them in the fall you are working with their natural life cycle. It can mean that a greater proportion of those you grow do indeed become perennials to come back a second year.

If you're serious about sowing seeds on a new home site, a recently graded piece of land, the site of a landslide or reintroducing them into your natural garden, pass by the small packets in the store. Instead, buy your seed in bulk so there is enough of it to produce a highly visible result. It also allows losses to birds and washout after a heavy rain. American Meadows sells them by the quarter pound(visit http://www.AmericanMeadows.com). Also check out Eden Brothers (http://www.edenbrothers.com) and Clyde Robin Seed Company (http://www.clyderobin.com).

The beauty of fall-sown wildflowers is that it's easy to forget about them over the holiday season. When conditions are right and spring rolls around, you'll enjoy your own tierra del fuego, as the orange blossoms of California's amazing state flower spread like wildfire throughout your garden.

Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at www.MoPlants.com. Contact her at mogilmer@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 891, Morongo Valley, CA 92256.

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